Shocking! Porn producers leaving L.A. for Las Vegas: Opinion

Was there a less surprising piece of news over the weekend than the item about pornographic video production moving to Las Vegas?

The story shocked only those who claimed there would be no significant economic consequences to the Los Angeles County law, approved by Measure B voters in 2012, requiring condoms on porn sets.

Lawsuits over the L.A. law continue, and, as the Associated Press reported (note that this is the AP’s phrasing, not mine) “the industry is still waiting for the first big prophylactic bust.”

But porn producers aren’t waiting around in the San Fernando Valley to see how the regulation will play out. Permits for porn film productions in L.A. County plummeted from 480 in 2012 to 24 through the first nine months of 2013. And companies seem to be making the easy hop to Clark County, Nev., where health permits aren’t required and license fees are lower.

As when porn productions started moving to Florida last year, and condom-law backer Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation expressed shock and outrage, it’s a we-told-you-so moment for those who opposed the unnecessary further legal intrusion on a legal industry estimated to account for 10,000 jobs and $1 billion a year in economic activity in Southern California.

Even if condom-free porn were a public health hazard, Measure B is succeeding only in pushing it to other parts of the country. Porn movie-makers who didn’t want to include condoms — they believe it’s a turnoff for viewers — are just taking their business elsewhere.

A public official in Las Vegas told the AP he welcomes the trend because “it’s economic diversification.” That seems like a very adult attitude.